Seeing Child Labor

Child labor evokes images of exploitation. And yet, it’s complicated. Through one photographer’s lens we can see children working under terrible conditions. We also can see children working along with their families, children reading while they work, children playing in workplaces, and children doing schoolwork.

Through these images, we view children across the globe as more than just “objects” who are manipulated by adults. Though relatively powerless, they are also active subjects who see the world through their own perspectives and act on it as agents.

About the photographer

David Parker is an occupational medicine physician affiliated with the Environmental Health Sciences Program at the University of Minnesota, and Senior Physician Researcher at HealthPartners. He has been traveling the globe and documenting images of child labor for three decades.